Sermon and Worship Resources

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Sermon

John A. Terry

... things right with our need for nourishment, but to make things right for a hungry world, to crave a world that is right and just, as often and as intently as we crave food and drink. This is a challenge to examine that for which we hunger and thirst. John Stuart Mill said his life was changed by his suddenly asking himself this question: "Suppose I attain what I am now pursuing. What sort of man shall I be at the end?" Jesus promised that there is a way of satisfying the hunger of the soul just as we crave ...

2. The Righteous

Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon

John A. Terry

3. The True Feng Shui Life

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you: the image of Christ being formed in you. Animations, Illustrations, Illuminations, Ruminations, Applications “O, wind of the Spirit Fill the sails of my Soul Send us on Lord Let your wind blow.” –Russ Rosen/Sandy Rosen/Mike Oshiro In his autobiography, John Stuart Mill told the story of his father, a man who was intellectually ambitious for his son and who put him on a crash course of knowledge. With no respect for religious faith, however, he refused anything religious to enter his son’s ...

4. Looking to the Unseen

2 Corinthians 4:18

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... we can. Consequently, we have many people rushing headlong into hedonism, into narcissism, into the mentality of "I've-got-to-do-my-thing-while-I-have-a-chance." But, the pursuit of pleasure for pleasure's sake is often disappointing. Philosopher John Stuart Mill once observed that pleasure and happiness are often a by-product of devotion to a higher cause. The melancholy preacher of Ecclesiastes tried every pleasure he could think of and concluded it was vanity. The great British preacher of the nineteenth ...

5. The Manger Is Empty

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... the boat was docked at Galveston, Texas, and it had been for some time. The ship had been docked for the last 12 hours while Stuart thought he was fixing to die from seasickness. He could have walked the few feet to solid ground at any time. * That's exactly how close God's help is, whether we take advantage of it or not! Whether we're prepared or not. And so the voice of John the Baptist cries, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight," just as God had already been at work for thousands of ...

6. Tarzan He Was Not

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... . 1. David Patterson, http://family-friends-others.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html 2. Jeffrey Smead, http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/stories-about-branch-vine.asp. 3. Story of Stuart Hamblin compiled from several sources. Lyrics and music, “It is no Secret” composed by Stuart Hamblin. 4. Answers to Life’s Most Perplexing Problems, compiled by John Van Diest (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 1998), pp. 102-103. 5. (New York: W. W. Norton and Co. 1953). 6. http://www.episcopalchurch.org ...

7. Sycamore Blues

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . What he’s done for others, he’ll do for you. God right now is standing there with arms wide open. He’ll welcome you, no matter what you’ve done. There is no secret, John, what God can do.” John Wayne listened, obviously moved, and then said: “Stuart, you ought to make that into a song.” The actual song was written as Stuart was waiting for his wife Suzie to get dressed for a New Year’s Eve Party . . And now you know the rest of the story . . . Let’s pray together now that God might see ...

8. The Get-ready Man

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... sin comes into our lives. Our intent is that we be loving, disciplined people, fashioned in the image of Jesus. But we are not Jesus and the words of John the Baptist calling us to repentance are words we need to hear. We don’t know what the future may bring. Life is fragile. All of us have ... than any of us can imagine. In 1854 a cavalry officer named J.E.B. Stuart graduated from west Point and was sent to his first assignment, in Texas. He boarded a steamboat in New Orleans and immediately found himself in the middle ...

9. Disarming Evil

Colossians 2:6-23; John 8:44-45

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... gun," Bobby replied. "It was the same gun." Dr. Peck was stunned. Bobby's parents were all but telling him that the whole matter with Stuart was his fault and things would be best if he would commit suicide too. Dr. Peck called the parents to his office. They seemed to ... powers. This evil resided in his parents whom Dr. Peck discovered to be, as his book title states, "People of the lie" (cf. John 8:44-45). They were people who could simply not tell the truth about themselves. That is Dr. Peck's definition of ...

10. The Complete Picture

John 11:1-45

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... want to look up an image of one on your phone. The man who painted Washington’s portrait was a famous artist named Gilbert Stuart. He painted a life-size portrait of Washington in 1795. It is 8 feet tall, 5 feet wide, very detailed. The painting was ... confront him when he gets there. She greets him with the words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John doesn’t tell us Martha’s state of mind. But we’re all human. Some of you have experienced a loss so heart-breaking that ...

11. Jesus Is Tried before Pilate and Sentenced to Death

Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 27:11-26

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... prisoner. While there is no external corroboration for this custom attributed to Pilate, we also hear about it in Mark 15:6 and John 18:39, which add the detail that Pilate was deferring to local custom in offering to release a prisoner at Passover. Craig Keener ... and David Petruzzi. In their book, the authors analyze the commonplace view that Jeb Stuart was responsible for the Confederate Army’s loss at Gettysburg. Stuart, a cavalry commander, led his troops on a roundabout ride to Gettysburg and finally ...

12. In It for the Long Haul

John 6:60-69

Sermon

King Duncan

... 6.2 miles, people were dribbling in one at a time, and not many of them at that. “The moral of the story,” says Stuart Briscoe “is this: You get all kinds of people goofing off at the start, but that doesn’t count. To finish does [count], and ... hoping to have a fresh experience of God’s grace. I believe that if you will endure long enough it will happen. Pastor John Ortberg tells a story written many years ago by Max Beerbohm, who called it, “The Happy Hypocrite: A Fairy Tale for Tired Gentlemen ...

13. Love of Money

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... with Jesus himself. 6:9–10 Although it is possible to translate the Greek rhiza as a root, both the emphatic word order and the so-called Colwell’s rule (that a definite predicate noun that precedes its verb is usually without the article, as in John 1:1) suggest the intent is the root, as in all the other expressions of the proverb. For the proverb itself, see Stobaeus, Ecl. 3; Diogenes Laertius 6:50; Ps.-Phocylides 42; Polycarp, Philippians 4:1; cf. Test. Jud. 19:1; Diodorus Saeculus 21.1; Philo ...

14. Pop Verses: Lamentations 3:22-23

Lamentations 3:22-23

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... her spine. “Mary Ann underwent surgery at the hospital to fix the damage but the surgeon fixed more than he knew. She awoke and asked a nurse for pain medication—and realized she could actually see the nurse! “According to Dr. John Ashfar of Stuart, Florida, what he witnessed at Martin Memorial hospital was something beyond what his medical training taught him to expect. ‘The restoration of Mary Ann Franco’s vision is a true miracle. I don’t have a scientific explanation for it.’ “Doctors ...

15. Homecoming

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

... determined efforts to rise. My friend, Stuart, for whom I still grieve, once showed me a picture of his parents, both gone at least two decades, and in showing me their photograph said, "I miss them every day." Stuart told me of once opening a ... raised, he is not here... he is going ahead of you." "Going on ahead of you," the Risen Christ, on ahead, where? Toward the end of John's gospel, Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving them. They were sad. Then he said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you. ...

16. Would You Please Listen To Me?

John 1:19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... as simple as that. A diesel operator named Tiny put it well. He said, "We belonged to the nation and we got sent!" (6) This was John's simple answer also. "I was from the nation of Israel, and I got sent." Road-building is a difficult job. Society tells us that this ... . Which road will you choose this season? I pray it will be the road to a new life in Jesus Christ. 1. Levine, Stuart R. and Crom, Michael A. The Leader In You (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), pp. 84-85. 2. The Jokesmith 3. Stan Mooneyham, ...

17. A Reed Who Became a Rock

John 1:35-42

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... a cripple: a man who had never walked, who had been lame from the day of his birth. There he lay - begging, asking for alms. Peter and John (who was with him) stopped. The hopes of the beggar arose. Peter looked down and said, "Silver and gold have I none ..." Imagine the man’s heart ... I realize what Peter was, then recognize what he became - I think there’s still hope for me. Stuart Hamblen’s gospel song is right: It is no secret what God can do; What he’s done for others, he’ll do for you. With arms ...

18. The Awful Grace of Amazing Grace

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... like to be at the top of his game, and at the bottom of the barrel. Did you get it? The awful grace of God was behind John Newton being forced into labor in Sierra Leone because of his own bad behavior aboard ship. After he became a Christian he served as captain, the Man ... When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (For other alternatives you might choose, see below: 2) for more contemporary congregations: Stuart Townend’s “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” (if you’d like your congregation to pray and ...

19. “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God”

Psalm 19:1-14

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... of the scroll, which left him with the same taste sensation (Ezek. 3:3). In that vein, John reminds us that God’s “commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). On the contrary, it is our sins that are burdensome (19:12–13), from which ... difference that has made in your life. Psalms and hymns grow out of life experience with God. Hymn: “How Great Thou Art,” by Stuart K. Hine. Hine was an English missionary to Poland in the 1920s. During his time there, he heard a Russian version of a Swedish ...

20. The Son Makes Us Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... big house on the plantation. She became pregnant with their first child shortly before her husband went off to war with Jeb Stuart's calvary, and reluctantly, the family took her into their home on the plantation to care for her and the baby she ... mean? What does it really mean to continue in Jesus' word? This notion of continuing or abiding in Jesus' word is a large idea in John's gospel. He uses his images like a kaleidoscope. The same images are combined and re-combined in different ways, so that each time ...

21. Dim Visions And Blind Guides

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... 't we truly be better off with Jesus around talking or at least placing a few person-to-person telephone calls? James Stuart of Edinburgh used to say that Jesus had to leave in order that our religion would be spiritualized. Apparently Jesus wanted a religion ... I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:6-7, NIV). Jesus was talking about the danger of hanging around too long or sending messages too often. My friend Tom Downing21 ...

22. Hungry For Bread

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... gesture. (2) Ouch! Somewhere there was a major disconnect between that driver's beliefs and his actions. It's like the story of Stuart Berger, a former health columnist for the New York Post for a number of years. Berger was also the author of best- ... our love. 1. From St. George Orthodox Church, Flint, MI: Cited in Joyful Noisletter, Nov 2001, p. 1, "Thanksgiving Thoughts." Contributed by Dr. John Bardsley. 2. "God is Love, But He Hates . . ." By Dr. Robert R. Kopp Feb. 18, 1996, p. 1. 3. "The Empowered Life ...

23. Formula For A Glowing Face

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... because he recalls the look of enmity on his host's face. The king puts it like this: "I saw his heart in his face." Gilbert Stuart took one look at Talleyrand, the French ambassador, and said, "If that man isn't a scoundrel, God doesn't write a legible hand." A ... Hoyt illustrates this thought. He writes, "They have preserved in Bedford, England, the door of the jail which was locked upon John Bunyan. How many prayers which Bunyan must have pleaded behind it that that jail door might swing open for him! ...

24. Any FAX, Or E-Mail From God Today?

1 Samuel 2:12-26

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... mean? Wouldn't we truly be better off with Jesus around talking or at least placing a few person-to-person telephone calls? James Stuart of Edinburgh used to say that Jesus had to leave in the Great Ascent in order that our religion would be spiritualized. Apparently Jesus ... Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV -- Year B (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993), pp. 105-107, and Fred B. Craddock, John H. Hayes, and Carl R. Holladay, Preaching the New Common Lectionary (Nashville: ...

25. God's Gift Of Life

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

Erskine White

... came to mind, it truly is an "awesome wonder" to see "all the worlds God's hands have made. How great Thou art!" (Stuart K. Hine). That first birth left us impressed with the pricelessness and preciousness of life. The birth of our second child was different ... her hour has come. But when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born" (John 16:21). In other words, Jesus is saying that His hour to die has come and the disciples are in pain about it. But soon ...

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